by Jo Sandhu
About the Book
Tarin’s quest to save Mammoth Clan seems increasingly out of reach. Badly injured while fleeing the savage Boar Clan, Tarin and the twins face certain death as the harsh Winter descends. But an unexpected refuge not only saves their lives but offers new friends, and Tarin finally realises his greatest wish. When Spring comes, will Tarin have the strength to leave and continue his dangerous journey?
CONTENTS
White Water
Spirit of Wolf
An Unexpected Ally
The Old Ones
The Hunt
Strange Medicine
Mark of the Hunter
The Long Dark
Spear Thrower
Attack
A Difficult Choice
A Debt of Honour
Spirit of Owl
Farewells
Breath Like Water
Ice Bringer
Into the Darkness
The Mother Awakens
The Mother’s Heart
A New Clan Member
A Change of Plan
Musk Ox Clan
About the Author
A spear, carved and tipped with bone.
Soft leathers from Reindeer Hearth.
A grass-wrapped parcel of food from Aurochs Hearth.
Two carved ivory beads from Fox Hearth.
A cave bear tooth from Bear Hearth.
A flint blade from Elk Hearth.
A parcel of herbs from Old Mother.
From Old Ilmi, an amber bead with a tiny ant trapped inside.
All wrapped in a snow leopard skin. An Offering to the Earth Mother, to save his clan from a bitter Winter filled with hunger and death.
An Offering that now would never be made.
I have failed.
Tarin’s thoughts were grim as he clung to the sides of the aurochs hide coracle. ‘White water ahead!’ he shouted. An icy spray of water drenched the little boat, blinding Tarin and filling his lungs. He coughed and wiped his streaming eyes. Luuka laughed and shook the water from his face.
‘You’ll never be a river man, Tarin! But you are learning.’ Luuka corrected their course with the deer antler paddle.
Tarin flashed him a quick smile. ‘I wish the river would stay still for a while. Further left,’ he shouted above the roar of the rapids.
Luuka eased them over the turbulence and yelled in joy as the little craft negotiated the hidden currents and unexpected eddies that threatened to tip them into the icy water. ‘It’s good to be alive, Tarin of the Mammoths. It’s good to be alive and on the river.’
Tarin pushed his dark and troubled thoughts aside. Luuka was right. They were bruised and battered, they had lost much of the Offering, but they were alive. He touched the owl pendant at his throat.
Thank you, Spirit of Owl, for protecting us. Thank you, Spirit of Wolf, for defending us.
Then he focused once more on the churning water ahead. Beside him, Kaija lay half awake, half asleep. Her face was pale and she groaned with the movement of the boat. Tarin felt her forehead.
‘How is she?’ Luuka’s voice was tense.
‘She has fever,’ Tarin said. ‘The bad spirits have entered her wound again.’
Luuka pressed his lips together and steered the coracle around a floating branch.
‘She cannot die, Tarin,’ he said finally. ‘She is all I have.’
Tarin nodded but didn’t speak. Kaija had saved his life – twice. Once, when she found him half drowned, washed up on the rocky banks of the river, and again when she rescued him, Luuka and the pups from Boar Clan. They had almost escaped . . . almost . . . when a Boar Clan spear had found its mark and lodged in Kaija’s shoulder.
‘Her totem spirit is strong.’ Tarin turned his eyes once more to the river. ‘Spirit of Horse will fight.’
But why is the fight so hard? he wondered. Why do people with strong totems still sometimes die?
Kaija groaned and opened her eyes, but they were glazed and pain-filled. The wolf pups, the newest members of their little clan, nuzzled against her, looking for warmth, or perhaps they were giving her some of their own. Tarin wished she would sleep, but he feared her dreams would be filled with shadows.
But she is alive. We are alive.
And we are Clan – Wolf Clan.
He held onto that thought. ‘Rocks ahead,’ he shouted. Luuka steered them around the danger, and they relaxed once more. For a full day they had allowed the river currents to carry them. A full day of safety between them and Boar Clan. Tarin studied the cliffs and the position of the sun. Tonight, he would suggest they leave the river. They could use the sun and the stars to find their way back to familiar land. A wolf pup staggered to him and collapsed at his feet with a sigh.
‘You don’t like the boat, do you, little one?’ he murmured.
The pup whimpered.
‘Before we leave the river, I’ll catch some fish,’ Luuka said. ‘I have my line and gorges, and there should be good fish in this river, possibly asp or grayling.’
Tarin nodded, distracted by something ahead. ‘Luuka! What is that?’ The water churned, white and bubbling, but no rocks broke the surface.
‘I don’t know,’ Luuka said, frowning. ‘But it’s too wide to paddle around. I’ll try to ease us toward the bank.’
But they were in a part of the river where a fast-flowing tributary joined the main river, and the treacherous currents spun the little boat around until they faced backwards. Grey rocks loomed, and the coracle spun once more in a circle before hitting something with a crunch. Some of the willow withies forming the framework of the boat broke and dragged through the water.
Tarin could now see the danger. A large tree had been washed downstream and lodged against the grey rocks. The branches spread wide, like a net, and the river rushed towards it and under it. There was no escape. They would be crushed. The little coracle spun toward its doom.
‘Kaija, wake up!’ Tarin shook her and grabbed the pups and bags. Water was flooding the coracle.
‘The paddle is useless,’ Luuka shouted. He braced his feet against the boat’s thin frame, but before the tree could catch them in her outstretched arms, a submerged branch snagged the bottom of the boat. The aurochs hide was strong, but the river was stronger. The branch pierced the skin and ripped it apart. In moments, they were floundering in the turbulent water. The current dragged Tarin down, tumbling him over and under. His mouth filled with water as he crashed into the tree. A hand gripped his arm and hauled him upwards.
‘Grab the branches,’ Luuka shouted. ‘Climb!’
Tarin coughed the water from his lungs and reached for Kaija as she hung limply against another branch. He helped her struggle upwards as Luuka pushed the pups down the front of his beaska. They weren’t far from shore and the tree reached most of the way. They scrambled and clawed, and finally found themselves standing ankle deep in a calm shallow beside the bank, their hearts pounding, their breath steaming the icy air. They stared at each other, seeing in their faces the horror of another near escape.
Luuka’s beaska wriggled and he put the pups down to scramble up the bank. They yelped and shook themselves dry.
‘I was going to suggest we leave the river . . .’ Tarin’s voice faded away as the last crumpled remains of the coracle disappeared in the foaming water.
Kaija and Luuka said nothing, but stumbled after the pups. They all collapsed on a bed of soft, dry leaves.
‘We can camp here,’ Tarin said. ‘There’s willow and reedmace. We can dig for roots.’
Luuka nodded. ‘I can set my lines for fish, and maybe even weave a trap out of the willow.’
Finally, Tarin thought. Finally they could rest and treat their wounds, and decide on their journey. They had no choice
but to go onwards, but he had no idea where the Spirits would lead them. He believed they had been brought together for a reason. They were such an unlikely clan – Horse, Owl and Wolf. Perhaps their journey would take them to the Great Mother’s Mountain and he could offer her what remained of the Mammoth Clan gift. He hoped it was enough. He would do this with the help of his new clan. Wolf Clan.
Together, they would continue their journey. Together, they were strong. And together – they would survive.
Luuka threw the half-woven trap on the ground. ‘It’s no good. I need younger willow that will bend and weave.’
‘You’ve caught us dinner, and enough food for tomorrow.’ Tarin didn’t lift his eyes from the pot of simmering herbs. ‘If we’re leaving the river, we don’t need the traps. But we’ll take the spears you shaped. There may still be some squirrel or pine marten around to hunt.’ He passed Luuka a cup. ‘See if Kaija will drink this.’
Luuka squatted next to his sister and gently touched her arm. ‘Kaija? Sip this tea. It will make you feel better.’ Kaija opened puffy, glazed eyes. The hands she wrapped around the cup trembled and some of the liquid spilled onto Luuka’s hand. ‘I’ll help you,’ he said, and watched carefully as she took a few sips. Then she sighed and lay back.
‘I’m so tired, Luuka. I’ll sleep now.’
A wolf pup curled next to her and the two of them closed their eyes.
‘It’s not just the journey, is it?’ Luuka asked Tarin.
Tarin shook his head. ‘No.’ He passed Luuka one of the fish they were roasting on willow sticks and took one himself. ‘While you were fishing, I bathed her shoulder again, but the wound is not healing.’ He looked over at the sleeping girl. ‘It must be very painful for her. It would be good if she sleeps tonight. It will give her spirit strength to fight.’
Luuka smoothed her tangled hair off her face. ‘She hasn’t slept well since the sickness came to River Clan.’ He sat back against a smooth tree trunk and stared into the flames. ‘That seems a long time ago now.’ The larger of the two pups curled next to him and Luuka stroked his fur gently. He yawned deeply and settled more comfortably. ‘We weren’t always part of River Clan. My mother once told me she came from a northern clan who travelled the tundra with the reindeer herds.’
‘I know of the reindeer traders.’ Tarin added another branch to the fire and watched the sparks spiral upwards. ‘Jarkko travels with them sometimes, trading mammoth bone for reindeer hides.’
Luuka nodded. ‘One day, a River Clan man asked my mother to return to the forests with him. Kaija and I were just babies and her clan said two born together were a bad omen and she was bad luck. I think they were happy when she chose to leave with him.’
‘What about your father?’ Tarin asked.
‘She said he left when we were born,’ Luuka said. ‘He was ashamed.’ A branch cracked in the fire and he shook his head to clear his thoughts. ‘Always, people think we are bad luck. Maybe we are.’ He raised his head to the sky and stared long into the darkness.
‘I don’t think that,’ Tarin said. ‘To me, you and Kaija are good luck. I would be dead if it weren’t for you.’
Luuka smiled sleepily. ‘You are stronger than you think, Tarin of the Mammoths. You will survive.’ He lay down and drew the warm little wolf pup close. Soon, both he and the wolf were snoring gently.
Tarin stared into the fire. Sleep was still a long way off. Despite the exhaustion of his body, his spirit was wide awake. The moon was high now and cast a silvery glow over the forest, already dusted in snow, but clouds were building and there would be heavier snow by morning. Worrying thoughts kept chasing each other through his mind.
What were they going to do for Winter? he wondered. They needed shelter. A cave would be best. Near to water, and fish. There was no hope of foraging for plants now. The berries were finishing. The ground was too hard to dig for roots. Hunting was scarce as the rabbits, stoats and squirrels hid in their burrows. Tarin felt a great weight settle on his shoulders and he shivered.
And Kaija was becoming weaker and more fretful. What would he do if the Spirits took her? He pushed the thought from his mind. The fear made his throat hurt. ‘Help her, Spirit of Horse,’ he whispered. ‘Don’t let her . . . die.’ He hesitated over the word. It was too final.
Finally, exhaustion overwhelmed him and he dropped into an uneasy sleep filled with horrible dreams of loneliness and fear, and of being lost far beneath the earth in a cave as black as night.
Dawn barely broke the darkness. The clouds hung low and grey, and a biting wind whipped a scouring sleet against their faces and drove ice into their bones. They broke their fast with cold tea and leftover fish. The pups whined and curled around legs and feet until Luuka and Tarin took one each into the warmth of their beaskas.
It was a miserable start to a miserable day. Their clothes weighed heavy and wet on them and were crusted with ice, the ground was slippery and treacherous, and without a sun to guide them they had no idea where they were.
‘If we head into the forest, the trees will protect us from the wind,’ Luuka said, and with shoulders hunched, the three friends turned away from the river to the shelter of the trees.
But even under the trees, the wind and sleet had a way of chilling them to their bones.
Kaija walked with her head down, concentrating on following her brother’s footsteps. One after the other. One foot. Then the other. It was the only thing she could think about. Lifting her feet became her whole world. If she started to think about the fear gnawing at her belly, and the pain shooting through her shoulder and down her arm, one moment as hot as fire, the next like ice, then she knew she would flounder and fall. And if she fell here, lost in such an unfamiliar landscape, Kaija feared she would never rise again. Her foot stubbed a hidden rock and she lurched forward, but Tarin was by her side to steady her.
Why have the Spirits spared me? she wondered. She had been prepared to meet them that first night after fleeing Boar Clan. The sickness in her shoulder had festered and weakened her. Spirit of Horse could not fight against the growing shadow. But then Tarin had fought the bad spirits for her. He had chased the shadows away and removed the tiny sliver of Boar Clan arrow. He had saved her, just as she had saved him when the river tried to take him. They had saved each other.
He is my Spirit Brother, Kaija thought. My brother, as much as Luuka is.
She took a deep breath. One foot. Then another.
‘Can you go a little further?’ Tarin held his hand out to her. ‘The trees are thicker ahead and the ground is rising. We can find shelter.’
Kaija nodded. ‘A little,’ she said. ‘But only a little.’
Snow lay in eddies around their ankles and crusted in the folds of their clothes. Kaija’s legs felt as heavy as river rocks, and her hands and face were numb.
Ahead, Luuka gave a shout. ‘Cave!’ He hurried back to them. ‘It’s not very big, but we can get out of the wind and light a fire.’
Cave! A beautiful word. Kaija gripped Luuka’s hand and forced herself to move faster. Dark rocks loomed ahead, half hidden by hazel brush. Tarin hurried forward to pull the tangled branches aside.
‘Tarin! There may be animals!’ Luuka shouted a moment too late. Tarin jumped back as a small furred creature erupted from the darkness. It snapped at him, sinking sharp teeth into the thick mammoth skin beaska. The wolf pup yelped and stuck his head out of his warm cocoon. He bared his little teeth and snarled at the intruder. The wolverine sensed better prey than the thick, tasteless fur his teeth had found, and leapt toward the pup and Tarin’s throat.
Kaija didn’t hesitate. Her pain was forgotten. Her weariness fell away. She lunged toward them, knocking the wolverine off balance, just long enough for Luuka to drive one of his willow fishing spears into the animal’s throat.
They lay stunned in the snow, their breath wrapping them in mist, their hearts beating so fast Kaija wondered that the forest didn’t echo with the sound. Then the second wolf pup wriggle
d free to join her brother, and together they cautiously approached the dead wolverine. They sniffed the stiffening fur and blood-stained snow, and when they were sure it wasn’t going to move, they snarled and grabbed the thick tail in their teeth, shaking their heads from side to side.
Kaija released a shaky breath and tried to stand, but her legs refused to move.
‘Lucky that was a small one,’ Luuka said. ‘And his jaws didn’t get a good grip on you. He could break your arm with one snap.’ He drew out the spear and wiped his bloody hands on the snow. ‘And lucky my sister is fierce like the wolverine, but I think you’ve hurt your shoulder again.’
Kaija nodded, her lips clipped tightly together. Her heart still beat wildly in her chest. ‘A little,’ she admitted. She rubbed her face with shaking hands. ‘Tarin, you never go straight into a cave or den.’
‘S . . . sorry . . .’ Tarin stammered.
She tried again to struggle to her feet but the forest spun and seemed to fall toward her. She caught her breath sharply and sat down again. ‘I think . . . I need help.’ And she closed her eyes and let the darkness swallow her.
The cave was small and reeked of wolverine musk, but it was enough to give shelter and allow them to dry their waterlogged clothes. Kaija slept on.
‘Let her sleep,’ Tarin said. ‘Her spirit needs rest.’
Luuka nodded and pulled his matted hair out of his eyes. He rubbed his face wearily and sat with his head in his hands and his shoulders slumped.
‘I think your own wounds are hurting?’
Luuka waved Tarin’s concern aside. ‘I am fine.’ Then he smiled quickly. ‘Just weary, and worried. What did she think she was doing, rushing a wolverine like that? They are vicious. We hunt them with slings from a distance, not up close with thin spears!’ He shuddered and rubbed his face again. ‘And what were you thinking? There could have been anything in this cave.’
Tarin hung his head. Luuka was right. They had been lucky, but in the Winter forest they couldn’t rely on luck to survive. They had to be smarter than that.